


Scattershot

by bigstupidjellyfish



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Prison Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 08:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7883317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigstupidjellyfish/pseuds/bigstupidjellyfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i'm still pissed this bullshit "love triangle" was executed so sloppily and was so full of holes you'd think it was a fishnet</p>
    </blockquote>





	Scattershot

**Author's Note:**

> i'm still pissed this bullshit "love triangle" was executed so sloppily and was so full of holes you'd think it was a fishnet

Luna 2 didn’t seem so bad at this point.

The thought was wild and stung, alien and stinking of defeat and desperation, and Getaway would have physically recoiled from it if movements didn’t trip the torture machine coiled around his sparkcase. His joints were stiff from the strain, and there was that unbearable twitch in his right hand. It was illogical and impossible because his hand was missing. He gave up trying to process it. He could just stare into the small window of his cell, trying to figure out what happened and why lights suddenly went out - was that Rodimus’ brand new treatment of prisoners?

And think, think, think about what went wrong. Who gave them out? What happened to Atomizer? How much everyone knew? How was it possible that his own kind treated him worse than the very leader of Decepticons? At which point everything became so wrong?

The answer screamed at Getaway: everything went wrong the moment Megatron dared putting Autobot badge on his chestplate. It wasn’t the answer to his questions, but it was the truth.

The anger boiled inside Getaway again, and he involuntarily twitched. The punishment was immediate, familiar, the shot of electricity burning his spark and making him run the protocols of his missing vox coder in silent scream.

It was fucking awful. Compared to that, Luna 2 was Hedonia.

Not that Getaway has ever been there. Skids told him it was nice. He missed the nice things right now.

Some distant vibrant chatter and noises made a pleasant distraction for the lone prisoner. He focused on the noises and managed to hold still long enough for the spark cage to stop sending electricity through him.

The moment a familiar frame showed in the cell window, though, Getaway had to hold himself completely still, alerted, cautious, almost afraid. He wasn’t eager to have a meeting with Tailgate in his current state, mutilated, immobilized, muted, vulnerable and unable to kick back if he was going to be kicked.

The minibot was chattering to himself something. It took time for Getaway to parse the speech. Tailgate complained about the darkness and about stumbling upon Getaway.

Getaway thought to himself, what kind of idiot ends up in ship’s prison block by accident and then complains about seeing who’s in cells? New piece of information was useful, at least: the lights were out not only to drive him insane.

Tailgate proceeded to throw complaints, showing Getaway the vial with something that looked like energon carelessly tied around Tailgate’s neck, fussing that Getaway was unresponsive.

Getaway wished he could look away and not hear this shattering voice. It was like his own mistake decided to visit him and mock him for being stupid enough to bet on this inconvenience shaped like a minibot.

Was he that stupid, though?

The revised memories of just being taken in abroad the Lost Light told him: no, he wasn’t. When he woke up from the haze of almost dying by the killswitch, he was told: this minibot saved all constructed cold bots, himself included. He was told: this minibot did it with wit, and not a gun.

On the front lines, Getaway learned to at least thank his saviors, put them on his tab on occasion, and keep an eye on them in the future. He did that.

Now, he looked at his savior and still couldn’t quite nail what exactly he thought about Tailgate.

Brave. Decisive. Likable. Charming, even. While Tailgate was recovering from cybercrosis, Getaway asked around. Those were the words his new shipmates described the little bot with.

Tailgate pointed the gun at Megatron and declared him guilty of people disappearing, the root of this whole crisis, and wasn’t afraid of the tyrant. Getaway couldn’t have imagined what else the minibot could have done to prove himself more. He was an Autobot in his spark, as if he was programmed to be. As Getaway was.

“And now you decide to be quiet?” Tailgate asked him, condescending. Getaway’s fuel lines flared in heat of anger.

Short-sighted, naive to a fault, arrogant, dangerously stupid, easily manipulated. That’s what he’d call Tailgate now.

Getaway wanted to make use of these traits, the ones he admired and the ones he grew to despise. The minibot could make a good leader for this crew - far better than Rodimus. Definitely better than Megatron. Easily nudged in needed direction, to be more effective, to make sure the Autobot cause succeeded and wasn’t tainted by Megatron trying to claim it as his now. To prevent the tyrant and murderer from writing himself into history as a savior of Cybertron.

What was exact moment when Getaway realized that this wasn’t going to work? At which point he discarded Tailgate completely, seeing his potential wasted, finding him useful only to be a bait?

He found the answer pretty easily now: it was the moment when he realized that Cyclonus, this horned freak who had Decepticon insignia basically slapped across his entire being, was Tailgate’s voice of reason. Too bad Getaway separated them so well by that moment of realization.

Tailgate made good impression on people. Earnest and naive, he was easily forgiven and praised for success. It took time for Getaway to deduce that a lot of his success was pure luck and more - optics turned away from his mistakes. A lot of Tailgate’s words didn’t belong to him. His judgment on events was quick, but inaccurate, and changed unpredictably.

Not the exactly the material for future leader of expedition to save their race.

So much work. Wasted.

Getaway watched the minibot carefully. With a subtle haze of disgust, growing stronger, he noted how nonchalant Tailgate seemed. How he bragged about Cyclonus caring about him so much, so unlike Getaway, and Getaway wanted to laugh.

“You’re impossible,” he wanted to tell him. “How easily are you swayed? The second this horned freak forgets how to talk again, anyone can tell you anything, and you’ll believe them like it’s your own thoughts. When I proposed to you, where was your loyalty to him in that moment?”

Tailgate didn’t seem to notice that he couldn’t answer, and grew visibly angry with lack of response from Getaway.

“The moment Autobots started letting in people like you and Megatron, we lost this war,” Getaway wanted to snarl at him.

Was Getaway that stupid, to find anything in this person worth believing in? What was his fault at assigning Tailgate to at least some role for him not to be completely useless to his plans?

“I hope the life will get you what you deserve,” Tailgate spat out at him with acid.

The words hit Getaway like a whip, like he was electrocuted once again for moving, his vision flooding with flashbacks of first days in his life on the battlefield. He choked on air, intakes closing, trying to stomp down the bitter memories. What he deserved? To live and die like a knock off, his memory supplied.

He didn’t hear how Tailgate swore, only saw the movement, and felt the impact shaking the whole cell, shattering the glass. The spark cage was tripped, it burned his circuits violently, and lack of means to scream from pain made it only more painful. The flashback and physical pain overlapped, making each one worse tenfold.

Through agony, Getaway still found the power to admit the irony of how badly he misjudged this bot. Neither sharp nor too clever, lacking any awareness of his actions, Tailgate still could kick him so hard that Getaway wouldn’t dare getting up and fighting back in this moment.

Getaway made a mistake when he discarded Tailgate’s capacity to be a threat. He paid for it. He wasn’t eager to pay for it more.


End file.
